1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a card authenticating apparatus installed at stores or shops subscribed for a card-based transaction system for allowing various transaction processings to be executed through verification or authentication of credit cards and communication with central units installed at card issuers.
2. Description of the Prior Art
In recent years, there are developed and adopted increasingly card-based transaction processing systems in which card authenticating or verifying apparatus are installed at shops or stores joining the card-based transaction system are connected to central apparatus installed at card issuing companies in charge of controlling or supervising the cards by way of telephone line for transmitting to the card issuer the data of the card with a view to rationalizing the transactions based on the card such as a credit card which carries data of card issuer identifying code, user identifying code, cipher and the like. In such card-based transaction processing systems, the sales-person is required to make decisions upon every transaction as to whether transaction with a card user is permitted or not. For example, when the monetary amount of transaction in concern exceeds a certain limit imposed on the user by a card issuer company, the sales-person will often be at a loss as to completion of the transaction or dealing. In such situations, the sales-person is compelled to call the operator (control personel) of the card issuer company to inquire of the operator's decision as to whether the transaction be authorized or not. To this end, the sales-person has to search for the operator's telephone number of the corresponding card issuer company for every inquiry, which is a very troublesome procedure and provides a cause for degrading the efficiency of transactions.